crippen



A ril 20,1926. 1,581,392 J. w. CRIPPEN 4 LIFTING AND LOADING DEVICE Filed March 26, 1923 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 J. W. CRIPPEN LIFTING AND LOADING DEVICE April 20 1926. 1,581,392

Filed March 26, 1923 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 nyw lwumto c A ril 20, 1926.

.J. W. CRIPPEN LIETING AND LOADING DEVICE Filed March 26, 1923 3 Sheets-Sheet- 5 atented Apr. 29, 192 6 tlhlllftill g l fii l ltd LIFTING AND LOADING nnvlonf Application filed. March 8, 19533.

To all whom it may come 1%..

Be it known that 1, JOHN V1 CRIPPEN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Clarks Summit, in the county of Lackawanna and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Lifting and Loading Devices; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to'make and use the same, ref-- erence being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the reference numerals marked thereon, which form part of this specification.

My present invention relates to a lifting and loading device.

The purpose of my invention isto provide a lifting and loading device of new and improved construction and operation and one which is sin'1ple,'strong andeconomical in construction, of wide range in use and much simpler in operation than power-operated lifting and loading devices have heretofore been.

A further purpose is to provide a device of the character described which is positively power-operated as far as the lifting operation is concerned and in efilect power-operated during the downward movement in that no special strain is placed upon the person handling the device even during the lowering of the article being handled and at the same time to have the position and angle of the shovel or other holder directed by the hand or hands of the person operating the device. 7

A still further purpose is to provide in a device of the character described a shovel or other convenient holder having a handleor other suitable means for manual direction of the shovel by the operator andto have said shovel suspended by flexible'means from a suitable support with power-operated means on said support to raise said shovel through drawing up on said flexible member and furthermore to have the prime mover or motor providing said power controlled by manually-operable means upon the shovel and also tohave means likewise operable from the shovel for locking the shovel to the Serial No. 627,851.

form and arrangement that "they may be readily operated by the workman handling the shovel as his hands arein natural position to manipulate the shovel inthe ordinary way of a simple or hand-operated shovel; and further to have said control means of such form, construction and arrangement and combination with the rest of the device thatthe workman by imparting to the shovel a slightupward pressure as though to lift said shovel will automatically bring into operation 'the poweroper ated lifting means and will continue such poweroperated lifting means in operation as long as said pressure or tension from the work-' mans hands is given to the shovel and will automatically disconnect or throw out of operation said power-'operated lifting means by th workman, ceasing to give such pressure or tension to the shovel. I I

A further purpose is to have the device so constructed that when the power-operated lifting means is disconnected the weight of the shovel will allow downward movement of said shovelby said shovel unreelingthe flexible member from the drum upon which it. was wound by the prime, mover, a too rapid or falling action of the shovel being prevented bysaid shovel having to reverse said drum and the prime moverconnected thereto. I

A further purpose is to provide in a device of the character described means for posi tively preventingdownward movement of said shovel and its load, said means including members to lock said shovel to said flexible member and to have said locking operation operated by a part normally grasped by one hand of the workman as he would naturally usethe shovel for hand work and to have said locking means brought into operation and disconnected from operation ,y a small amount of movement of convenient form.

Fig. 1 is a rear elevation of a device embodying my invention shown in connection with the rear end of an auto-truck box.

. Fig. 2 is a top view of the device with the shovel swung bodily rearwardly somewhat as will occur in use and in order to show the shovel and the operating means more plainly but still assuming the shovelto be horizontal.

Fig. 3 is an end view of the device as seen fromthe right hand side of Fig. 1.

Fig. l is a top orplan view of the central part of the shovel and parts normally atlit) tached thereto on an enlarged scale and Fig. 5 a similar view with the ratchet wheel 26, chain wheel 27, and wire reel 28, and shaft 25 carrying the same removed in order to more clearly show the outline of the remaining parts.

Fig. 6 is a central vertical sectional view through said central part of the shovel and the sliding grip 30 mounted thereon, the section being taken just inside the inner bearing.

Fig. 7 is a transverse vertical sectional View on line 77 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 8 is a similar view on line 88 of Fig. 6.

Referring to the drawings in a more particular description it will be seen that I have illustrated my invention as used in connection with the box 10 of an automobile truck or other vehicle as thatis an advantageous location for my device, but it will be understood'that the device may be used in a great variety of places as by permanently fasteningthestandard 13 where desired or to any movable platform or by locating the poweroperated mechanism (shown on the swinging bracket 14) in any suitable way over the place where the work is to be done.

It will be understood also that the showing of a shovel in use with the device is simply illustrative and that the device may be readily used with a scoop, fork, pitch fork or flat platform or any other tool or device adapted to be shoved under or brought into engagement with the material or article to be lifted, all of which tools are intended to be comprehended within the general expression used herein of a shovel or the like.

Assuming now that the device is to be used in connection with an automobile truck box 10 the strong standard 13 will be provided and suitably fixed in position at one side of the box with a strong bracket let swingingly mounted to the top of said standard so as to swing horizontally over the box 10 with a considerable range of movement to the rear and to one side of said box.

Suitably mounted upon said swinging bracket 14: there is the prime mover 15 of desired strength andadapted to be readily controlled from a distance, said prime mover being preferably as illustrated herein an electrical motor 15. This is connected by a train of gears 16 16, 16 and 16 to the drum 17 suitably mounted for rotation on said bracket. A flexible member, preferably as herein shown a chain 18, has one end 19 thereof fixed to the bracket 14: and its other end secured to the drum 17 with the intervening portion of the chain depending from its supported ends as a loop which may be lengthened or shortened in an obvious man ner by rotation of the drum 17 in the proper direction.

From this loop of the chain 18 is suspended the shovel and its attached mechanism generally denoted by the reference numeral 11 and including thereby shovel or any device for engaging the article or matter to be lifted as hereinbefore mentiened.

The shovel 12 includes a scoop or platform or other article engaging part 20 and a handle 21 extending from the shove-l as P in an ordinary hand-operated shovel and provided with a convenient rear hand hold orcross bar 22. Upstanding from the shovel at about the junction of the scoopand handle portions are two short strong uprights 23 and 2% respectively each providing a bearing adjacent its upper end for the opposite ends of a shaft 25 arranged horizontally and transversely of the length of the ha; die. Between the said uprights 23 and 21 here are mounted to rotate in unison preferably by being each 'astened to said shaft the ratchet wheel 26, chain engaging wheel 27 and wire-carrying reel 28. The chain engaging wheel 27 is of such construction as to engage the chain 18 positively or in non-slipping relation as by said wheel having teeth to engage the openings in the links of the chain or by having notched portions to engage the ends of some of the links in the manner well known in the art. The ratchet wheel 28 has teeth 26 so arranged that the teeth of the left hand side of the wheel as seen in Fig. 1 point downward so as to be readily engaged by the point of a pawl 29 upstanding from the scoop end of the slide 30 mounted upon the handle 21, the upper end of said pawl preferably being reinforced by a brace 31 extending from near the upper end ofsaid pawl rearwardl and downwardly to the other end of the slide 30.

It will now be seen that operating the motor to wind the chain 18 up upon thedrum 17 will raise the shovel and its attached parts. Said upward n'iovement of theshovel will be half as fast as the travel of the upwardly passing portion of the chain 18. Such raising of the shovel will rotate the wheel 27 in a clockwise direction asthe parts are seen in 1. Cutting out the mo tor 15 will then allow the weight of the shovel and its attached parts, aided by the load of the shovel. if any, to cause the shovel to travel downwardly; said. downward travel, however, will not be too rapid because the weight of the shovel and its attached parts and its load if any will have a very small lei-'erag-e to unwind the drum 17 and reverse the direction of movement of the train of gear wheels and the motor 15.

The slide is mounted on the shovel handle 21 to have a limited sliding action upon said handle and its right hand end as the parts are seen in Fig. 1 to have a limited upward swing from the adjacent I hand portion of said slide entirely surround said handle as by being ring-like in form but of slightly greater diameter vertically than the diameter of the handle 21; and by having the left hand end of said slide extend part way about the adjacent handleon both sides and be there provided with a longitudinally extending horizontal slot 32 on each side through which extends and plays a pin 33 extending transversely of the handle. One handof the workman operating the shovel will normally grasp the annular or right hand portion of the slide while the other hand will grasp the hand hold 22 at the outer end of the handle. In this way the operator canireadily move the slide 30 its limited amount of travel towards the ratchet Wheel 26 or away therefrom. As the slide is moved the limit ofv its travel towards the ratchet wheel the pawl 29 upstanding from said slide will be brought intoline with and engage one of the downwardly directed teeth on the near side of said ratchet wheel. Such engagement obviously will stop further rotation of the ratchet wheel in an anti-clockwise, direction and will accordingly through the non-slipping engagement of the wheel 27 with chain 18 lock the shovel and its attached parts to said chain and prevent downward movement of the shovel. The shovel will stay locked from downward movement until the slide 30 and its upstanding pawl 29 are moved back from the ratchet wheel. The shovel may be left locked while the operator with his hands upon the handle is swinging the shovel and if need be the bracket 1.4 there.-

above around to desired position above the automobile truck box or away therefrom according to the needs of the occasion. The locking and unlocking operation may be repeated as often as desired to aid in this swinging or locating of the loadto the dc During both the raising and by the swinging movement of the slide 30' relative to the handle 21 said swinging motion being arranged to operate a switch. to close the electric circuit connected to the prime mover in case as here illustrated said prime mover is an electric motor. The means for such electrical control are as follows: From the motor 15 there extends the necessary wires 34 which pass down through a guide 39 near the end of the bracket 14 and then directly down to the wire reel 28 which has on its opposite sides upstanding flanges 28 adapted to keep the wire in place -upon the intervening periphery 28 of said reel. The periphery 28 of said wire reel isof substantiallythe samediameter as the chain engaging wheel 29 so that as the shovel descends the reel28 will be ro tated with saidchain wheel and in the same direction and will so pay out enough of the electric circuit wire 34 from said wire reel to prevent any undue straincorning upon said wire 84. Similarly when the shovel is being reel 28 in proportion to the upward movement of the shovel. It will be'understood that the wire 34 is of sufficient length to accommodate itself to the limit of downward The reel end or lower travel of the shovel. end of the wire34 is secured to the reel with an electric contact connection in such manner that, one side, say the left hand and make electric contact therewith even.

during rotation of said reel in either direction or at any point when stopped; The contact arm 35 is mounted upon the handle 21 but insulated therefrom with said arm in electric connection with a contact plate 36 within the cavity of the handle with said contact plate preferably located as shown in Fig. 6 at the upper portion of said cavity. The movable part or switch of this electric connection consists of a resilient plate 37 secured at one end as by rivets 38 to the lower wall oft' thehandle with the free part of said contact plate 37 opposite to and just below the contact plate 36. The movable contact plate 3'? under its own tension would normally be away from the fixed con tact plate 36, but the plate 37 may be moved against the plate '36 by upward swinging of the annular or right hand portion of the slide which extends below said movable contact plate 37 with the lower wall of the handle intervening therebetween. In said lower wall of the handle just below the free end of the contact plate 37 is provided an opening 40 through which extends an car 41 upstanding from the inner surface of the lower wall 30 of the annular portion of slide 30.- I g It will be understood that from the lower contact plate 3? electrical connection iscompleted back through the reel and "the'other half of the double wire 84 or grounded through the chain to the motor 15 in a way raised the wire 34 will be wound up on the llt) that need not be described in detail but resulting in the closing of the plate 87 against the plate 86 completing the electrical connection back to the said motor and bringing said motor into operationand that when this switch is opened electrical connection for the current to the motor will be interrupted. It will now be seen that upward pressure upon the annular part of the slide 30 will swing said slide upwardly sufiiciently to bring the electric motor into operation and that the necessary electrical connection will be continued as long as this slight upward tension is maintainedupon the slide 80 and that operative movement of the motor and consequently of the drum 17 will be stopped whenever such upward pressure upon the slide 30 is omitted or when slight downward pressure is given to said slide 30.

Preferably as shown in the drawings the wheel shaft of the shovel will be arranged not at right angles to the length of the shovel but at about 75 degrees thereto so as to carry the h andle farther away from=the truck than is the bowl. This allows the shovel to be used in its average and convenient position without any twisting of the bottom of the chain relative to its upper part.

The general operation of the device will be as follows: Assuming that sand, coal or crushed stone or other material to be handled by the shovel is to be loaded onto the auto truck equipped with one of my lifting and loading devices, the truck will be brought asolose to the material to be loaded as necessary. The shovel will be let down far enough to be grasped by the workman upon the ground and will be grasped by him in about the same way as though he were going to shovel the material by hand, that is with his left hand grasping the annular portion of the slide and his right hand grasping the hand hold or cross-piece 22. The scoop of the shovel will be shoved under a load of the material, the workman will start to lift up with his left hand which grasps the slide 30 thereby closing the switch which will start the motor and thereby causingthe drum to begin winding up the chain 18. The lifting will then continue entirely by power with the workman simply directing the swinging of the shovel towards the box and maintaining it sufficiently level to avoid spilling its load. The workman meanwhile will maintain the slight upward lift or pressure upon the slide 30 in order to keep the electric switch closed and the shovel continuing in its upward mot-ion. After the shovel has been raised far enough it may be already near enough for the workman to dump its load into the wagon or may be quickly swung close enough to accomplish that purpose before the shovel starts to descend under its own gravity and that of its load. If, however, the shovel when raised has to be swung some distance towards the box of thetruck the workman will cut out the motor by opening the electric switch at the proper point and will push the slide 30 towards the ratchet wheel until the pawl 29 engages the next tooth of the ratchet wheel. The effect of different timing-of these two movements will be described hereafter. The shovel and its lead are then locked from further downward movement and may be easily swung towards the truck or if necessary the whole bracket let may be swung about to a position overthe box. The shovel load may then be dumped by raising the outer end of the shovel handle or by canting the shovel sidewise or by unlocking the shovel and letting it descend far enough for the load to slide off from the shovels scoop. Then if the shovel is not already unlocked it will be unlocked and allowed to descend and swing down and away from the truck to the desired extent to place the shovel in position for the next load. ()n account of the fact that the shovel is in form a hand shovel and that it is lifted by power as soon as a lifting action is imparted to the slide 30 of the shovel and continued so long as such upward tension is continued and no longer the power operation of the device is very simple. so similar to the movement of a hand-open ated shovel that workman of very ordinary intelligence and with very little special instruction can soon acquire the necessary skill to readily and efficiently handle the whole machine. As the lifting is all done by power and the'carrying oras much as convenient is done when the shovel is locked, the physical work of shoveling or lifting with one of my devices is reduced to the minimum. The device can be brought into operation, stopped, locked, or the shovel dropped or any combination of these movements made so easily that the device can be used for a great variety of purposes including the shoveling of sand, coal, crushed stone, cement, gravel and grain up from the ground or floor into the box of a vehicle 'or into a case or barrel or other container; or such material can be shoveled from a. wagon or platform down on to the ground or to another wagon or receptacle.

By obvious substitution of a flat blade for the bowl-like scoop of the shovel the device may be at once adapted for use in lifting packages, boxes, kegs or the like. By the use of a fork hay or other fodder may be handled and by use of "special forks or hooks the device may be readily adapted to lift and load automobile tires, automobile wheels or other odd shaped articles.

' \Vhile I have spoken ofthe device as being used like an ordinary hand shovel with the workmans left hand grasping the slide 30 and his right hand grasping the hand hold The movement of the shovel is a controlling movements necessary so simple that even a left-handed man may readily operate the device by grasping the slide with the right hand and holding the hand hold 22 with the left hand if that arrangement happens to be more convenient relative to the material to be lifted or the wagon to be loaded. When the shovel is being swung about in locked condition obviously the workman willnot need to grasp the slide 30 and will only keep hold of the hand hold or any part of the shovel where convenient to direct the shovel and keep it fairly level against its load. As the hand hold is several times as far from the point of suspension as the center of the load'being carried the balancing of theloadon the shovel requires a relatively small amount of strength In order to make the construction of the device andespecially its operation as simple as possible'preferably the single slide 30 will carry and thereby operate, but by movement in different directions, both the pawl 29 to operate the locking device and the lower contact plate 37 to render operative the power-operated lifting mechanism, As-

suming that the power-lift is not operating and that the shovel has been locked from downward motion and that the operator desires to lift the shovel further he may do so by lifting the slide 30 and therebythe pawl the required distance tobring the lower contact plate 37 into engagement with the upper contact plate 36 against the down- 1 ward pressure of the ratchet wheel upon the pawl due to the weight of the; shovel and its'load: if any, if the said weight is not too greatfor'such temporary raising of the slide by hand. In ordinary operation and with the workman in convenient position to exert a fair amount of power temporarily this operation is perfectly practical. In case,

however, the load should be excessive either actually or through the workman not having convenient access to the shovel at the time, the slide 30 will be moved longitudinally so as to withdraw the pawl from the ratchet wheel whereupon the necessary upward movement of the slide 30 may be readily made and thus the power will be brought into operation before the load begins to dcsc'end As will be seen froman examination of Fig. 6 particularly, the face of the ratchet wheel teeth engaged by the pawl is parallel to the longitudinal motion of the slide so that very little power will be needed to effect such disengagement. On the other hand the fact that the weight of the shovel when the locking mechanism is brought into play will depress the pawl and the slide to itslower position and sodisengage the two electric contact plates 36 and 37 is an advantags in that it will prevent any slight accidental upward pressure this worlnnan upon the slide from putting the power lift inadvertently into operation' y VVhat I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a lifting and loading device the combination of a support, a drum revolubly mounted thereon, an electrically operated prime mover operatively connected to said drum, a flexible member depending from said drum and adapted to be wound up by rotation of said drum, a handled article-engaging tool suspended from the lower portion of said flexible member and means for controlling said prime mover including a manually-operable switch part on said tool handle and constituting a hands piece normally grasped by the operator in manually directing said tool. v p

2.- In a lifting and loading device the combination of a support, adrum revolubly mounted thereon, an electrically operated prime mover operatively connected to said drum, a flexible member depending from said drum and adapted tobe wound up by rotation ofsaid drum, a handled articleengaging tool suspended from the lower portion of said flexiblemember and means for controlling said prime mover including a'imanually-operable switch part on said handle and constituting a hand piece normally grasped by the operator in manually directing said tool and adapted to bring said prime mover into operation by pressure on said manually operable part. c

3. In a lifting and loading device the combination of a support, a drum revolubly mounted thereon, an electrically operated prime mover operatively connected to said drum, a flexible member depending from said drum and adapted to be wound up by rotation of said drum, a handled articleengaging tool suspended from the lower portion of said flexible member andmea-ns for controlling said prime mover including a manually-operable switch part on sand handle and constitutinga hands piece normally grasped by the operator'in directing said tool and adapted to bringjsaid prime mover into operation by pressure on said manually operable part and to continue such operation only so long as such pressure is maintained. I

4. In a vllfting and loading device the for controlling said prime mover includin" a manually-operable switch part on sai' handle and constituting a hand piece nor ,ma'llygrasped by the iiiperatoi in manually directing said tool and adapted to bring said prime mover intooperation by upward pressure on said manually operable part similar to the raising of said handle for manual operation thereof and adapted to disconnect said prime mover upon discontinuing said pressure.

5. In a lifting and loading device, the combination of a support, an electrically operated prime mover, a flexible member depending therefrom, a handled article-engaging tool suspended from said flexible member, circuit wires extending from the prime mover to thetool and a switch for said circuit including a yieldingly mounted movable member "at the bottom of the handle towards-its forward end adapted to close said circuit when raised relative to the handle whereby the-imrmal lifting-of the front end of the handle to raise said. tool. as in manually operating said handle so raises said switch member and brings said prime mover. into operation.

6.1111 a lifting and loading device, the combinationof a support, an electrically. operated prime mover, a flexible member depending therefrom, a handled article-engaging tool suspendedi from saidflexible member, circuit wires extending from the prime mover to the tool and a switch for said circuit includinga yieldingly mounted movable member adapted to close said circuit when pressed towards thehandle and so located on the handle astobepressedtoi wards the handle-when the handle. is grasped and raised as for manually imparting an upwardmovement to the tool, whereby such manual raising of thetool' closes said switch and elevates the tool' by power.

7. In a lifting and loading device the combination of a support, a drum revolubly mounted-thereon, a prime mover operatively connected thereto, a flexible .member having one-end attached to said support and its other-end attached to said drum with its centrab portion depending; in a. loop and adapted to bewound up by rotation of said drum, a handled article-engaging tool suspended from the loopof said fiexiblemem- 'ber, means for controllingsaid prime mover and means on said tool and operabledrom the tool handle operatively connected to effectja noneslipping engagement with the loop of said flexible. member for holding said tool from downward movement.

S. Ina lifting and loadingdevice the combination of a support, a drum revolubly mounted thereon, a prime mover operatively connected thereto, a flexiblemember having one end attached to said support and? its other end attached tosaid drum with its centralportion depending in a loop and adapted to be wound. up by rotation of said drum, a

handled article-engaging tool suspendedv from the loop-of said flexible member, means for controllingsaid prime mover, a ratchet wheel.mounted on saidstoa'il-and in non-slipping connection with the loopof said flexible member and a pawl mounted on the-handle adjacent said ratchet wheel and adapted to be moved into engagement therewith and thereby hold said toolfrom downward movement.

9. In a lilting and loading device the combination of a support, a drum revolubly mounted thereon, electric motor operatively connected thereto, a flexible member. de pending from said drum and adapted to be wound up by rotation. of said drum, a handled articlewen; lug tool suspended. from the lower portion of said flexible member and; manually operable motor-controlling means on said tool handle constituting a hand piece adapted to be normally grasped by the operatives hand when directing said tool and to be moved to operate said motor without releasing saidhold'upon theliandle.

10. In a lifting and loading device the combination of a support, drum revolubly mounted. thereon, an electric motor operatively connected. thereto, a. flexible member depending in a loop from saiddrum and from said-support andadapted to be wound upby rotation of said drum, a handled articleTengaging/tool suspended from the loop of said flexible.- member, manually operable motor-controlling. means on said handle adapted tobe normally grasped by the. operatives hand' when directing'said' tool and to be moved to operate said.1notor. without releasing. said -'holdupon the toolihandle and means operatively connecting saidatoolvand said-flexible member and operable from said handle to effect a non-slipping. engagement withsaid flexible member forholdingsaid toolfrom downwardmovement.

11. In a lifting. and loading. device the combination ot a support, a drum revolubly mounted thereon, an electric motor operatively connectedithereto, a flexible member depending ina loop from said. drum and from said support and adapted to be wound up by rotation of said drum, a handled artiole-engaging toolsuspended from the lower portion of said flexible. member, manually operable motor-controlling means on said handle adaptedito be normally grasped by the operatives: hand when. directing. said tool and to be movedto operate saidmotor without releasing said'hold upon the handle and means operable from said handle and adapted to effect a non-slippingconnection with said loop for holding. said tool from downward n'iovement, said last controlling means including asitshand-engaged member the same member as is grasped for operating the motor-controlling means butopsrating by a different movement thereofi 12. in a lifting and loadingdevice the combination of a support, a drum revolubly mounted thereon a prime mover operatively connected thereto, a flexiblemember havmg one end attached to said support and its other end attached to said drum with its central portion depending in a loop and adapted to'b' wound up by rotation of said drum, a handled article-engaging tool suspended from the loop ofsaid flexible memher, a ratchet wheel mounted on said tool and in non-slipping connection with the loop of said flexible member, circuit wires extending from the prime mover to the tool, a sleeve member mounted on the tool handle to be grasped by the operator when directing the tool and adapted to slide and to swing relative thereto, a pawl on said sleeve adjacent said ratchet and adapted to be moved into engagement therewith on sliding movement of said sleeve and hold the tool from downward movement and a movable switch member for said circuit mounted on said sleeve and adapted to close said circuit on swinging movement of said sleeve.

13. In combination a handled article-engaging tool adapted to be directed by hand, electrically-operated means connected to said tool for lifting it by power, power-controlling mechanism including operable switch means on a sleeve on the handle normally grasped by the operator as he directs the tool rendering said power-lift operable on up ward pressure upon the handle and means operable from said sleeve by a different movement from said upward pressure on the handle for locking said tool from clownward movement. I

In witness whereof I have ttfllXGd my sig nature, this 6th day of March 1923.

JOHN w. ORIPPEN. 

